All season automobile tires typically provide sufficient amounts of traction for normal on-road use during both wet and dry conditions. However, when driving on snow-covered or ice-covered roads, or when driving off road, conventional all season tires may not provide sufficient amounts of traction for safe travel. As a result, tires designed specifically for use in wintry conditions, as well as off-road specific tires, are available. Drivers may not always have winter tires or off-road specific tires on their vehicle when needed, for example, when caught off guard by an early season or late season snow storm, or when unexpectedly travelling off road. As a result, snow chains have been developed for increasing the traction of tires in emergency situations.
Conventional snow chains involve a web of chains that wrap around the circumference of a vehicle tire. Due to their design, however, conventional snow chains can be cumbersome and time consuming to apply to the vehicle tires, discouraging their use. In addition, conventional snow chains are often bulky and heavy, and take up an undesirable amount of vehicle storage space. As a result, some drivers are reluctant to carry conventional snow chains in their vehicles, and may not have them when confronted with a surprise weather situation or road surface that would necessitate their use. Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for apparatuses and methods for increasing the traction of vehicle tires that remedy the aforementioned and/or other drawbacks of the prior art.